Publications

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November 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Ventro: Builder of B2B Businesses

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Enables a thorough analysis of Ventro (formerly known as Chemdex), which builds and operates multiple B2B marketplace companies. Examines Ventro's business model and strategy as well as the company's operating, technical, and management expertise. Part of the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Management; Business or Company Management; SWOT Analysis; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry

January 1995 (Revised September 1997)
Case

TV Guide (B)

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

TV Guide, the nation's most profitable and largest magazine, attempts entry into the world of electronic publishing. The crux of TV Guide's strategy is to transform the magazine's content into a centralized database that can be accessed by new businesses, like... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Service Delivery; Information Technology; Marketing; Information Publishing; Service Industry; Service Industry

October 2011
Supplement

Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Zensar: In-Class Comments, 4/7/11

By: David A. Garvin

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows,... View Details

Keywords: Management; Service Operations; Family and Family Relationships; Behavior; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; India

12 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 12, 2006

people) or not served at all. Third, the products and services they offer are simpler and cheaper than alternatives, but recipients view them as good enough. Fourth, they bring in resources in ways that initially seem unattractive to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Jul 2024
Blog Post

Driving Positive Impact on Community and Climate with Ben Schutzman (MBA 2016)

complicated, but there are obvious risks around the new EV technology, the new infrastructure needed, and the support services, which are much more expensive than the current diesel or gas counterparts. Highland was founded to be a partner to help navigate the... View Details

September 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Bill Connors and The Farm, a Comcast NBCUniversal Innovation Hub (Powered by Boomtown)

By: Linda A. Hill and Eric Mankin

In 2017, Bill Connors, the President of Comcast’s Central Division, launched a startup accelerator in Comcast’s new Atlanta Regional headquarters. Comcast was America's largest cable and internet service provider, having built a profitable business bundling television... View Details

April 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Voatz

By: Mitchell Weiss and Maddy Halyard

Nimit Sawhney scrolled through the tweet stream on his phone, unsure of what to make of it on August 6, 2018 or how to respond. Voatz, the Boston-based startup he co-founded and led, provided a mobile-voting platform. In March of 2018, had successfully piloted the new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile App; Business Startups; Voting; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Safety; Cybersecurity

18 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Pooling on Throughput Time in Discretionary Work Settings: An Empirical Investigation of Emergency Department Length of Stay

Keywords: by Hummy Song, Anita L. Tucker & Karen L. Murrell; Health

22 May 2020
Blog Post

Remembering Well and Making Meaning of Memorial Day

has given me the ability to move out with confidence in the direction of my next chapter of service – owning and operating a small business in mid-market America that can have real impact on the lives of... View Details

September–October 2021
Article

Internalization of Advertising Services: Testing a Theory of the Firm

By: Alvin J. Silk, Birger Wernerfelt and Shuyi Yu

In 1956, a group of trade associations representing publishers and independent advertising agencies signed a consent decree aimed at ending a set of trade practices that for half a century effectively precluded advertisers from owning and operating in-house agencies.... View Details

Keywords: Internationalization; Specialization; Theory Of The Firm; Advertising Agencies; Advertising; Organizational Structure; Theory

Find at Harvard

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August 2003
Case

Mercury Computer Systems: The Evolution from Integrated Technology to Open Standard

By: Rebecca Henderson and Nancy Confrey

For 20 years, Mercury Computer Systems has thrived, providing products and services that support ultrafast processing of real time data. Now Jay Bertelli, the CEO, faces a critical question: How can the firm compete once the standards on which its products are based... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Open Source Distribution; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry

Find at Harvard

Nitin Nohria served as the tenth dean of Harvard Business School from 2010-2020. He previously served as co-chair of the Leadership Initiative, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty Development, and Head of the Organizational Behavior unit.

As Dean, building on... View Details

November 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Marcus by Goldman Sachs

By: Rory McDonald, Samir Junnarkar and David Lane

Five years on from the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman Sachs remained wounded. Revenues at the global investment bank had stagnated below pre-crisis levels, and the firm had yet to rebound from a substantial decline in securities-trading revenues. Marcus by Goldman... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Banks and Banking; Innovation Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

November 2022
Supplement

Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia (B)

By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In 2020, Francisco Staton, president of Arcos Dorados’ Caribbean Division, and Héctor Orozco, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados Colombia, were looking into Arcos Dorados’ options to consolidate its food delivery service in Colombia. This time the matter at hand hinged... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics; Logistics; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Latin America; South America; Colombia

January 2020
Case

Sunset Limited or Full Speed Ahead? Amtrak Talks to Congress

By: John D. Macomber

Richard Anderson took the helm of Amtrak in 2017 after leading a successful turnaround at Delta Airlines. Amtrak is a US state owned enterprise with about $3.5 bn in annual revenue (and a large operating loss) that is responsible for substantial segments of passenger... View Details

Keywords: Railroad; Passenger Transportation; Urbanization; Cities; U.S. Congress; Infrastructure; Transition; Transportation; Rail Transportation; Climate Change; Urban Scope; Strategic Planning; Business and Government Relations; Rail Industry; United States

18 May 2020
Working Paper Summaries

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

Keywords: by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo; Fashion

08 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

The Death of the Global Manager

while confirming and further exploring some basic challenges that have, more or less, remained the same. "There are three core strategies that any MNC has to pursue to build layers of competitive advantage," Bartlett says. "The first is to use worldwide... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm (A)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Catherine Zhang

Shanghai Diligence Law Firm, started in January 2006, is a rapidly growing law firm in China's burgeoning legal services market. In addition to the usual challenges facing all professional service firms (picking and retaining talent and building a desired client... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Compensation and Benefits; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Legal Services Industry; China